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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Education : Protest Activity |
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PRC Statement on Swanlund Occupation |
Current rating: 26 |
by via PRC website
(No verified email address) |
18 Apr 2004
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This article is the statement issued by the Prorgessive Resource/Action Collective following the successful occupation of UIUC's Swanlund admin building on April 15 & 16, 2004. |
Yesterday (April 16, 2004) we won an incredible victory toward the eventual and inevitable elimination of "Chief Illiniwek" as the name, mascot, and logo of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Friday afternoon, we came to an agreement with Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Trustee Frances Carroll on the conditions under which we would leave the building. Those conditions, while not including the elimination of "Chief Illiniwek," did include monumental victories for the anti- "Chief" movement! We got the anti-"Chief" resolution back on the agenda of the Trustees' June 2004 meeting and we left the building to cheering crowds and national and international media attention in our favor. Please read on for more information.
Despite repeated attempts to establish contact, Board Chairman Lawrence Eppley never once picked up the phone to speak with us or bothered to contact us about the conditions under which we would agree to leave the building. Clearly, Eppley would rather see the campus in crisis than speak even once with a broad-based, multicultural coalition to talk about concerns over racism.
Given the Board's refusal to communicate, knowing that they would eventually take action to clear the building, and not wanting our participants to potentially face arrest at the hands of an unresponsive Board, we made the decision to negotiate with Chancellor Cantor about the terms under which we would leave the building.
As a result of astonishing and inspiring work on the part of African American and Latino/a students on the inside of the sit-in to call their representatives and senators in the Illinois General Assembly, we were able to win meetings with the entire Black and Latino/a Caucuses of the Illinois General Assembly -- meetings that Chancellor Cantor scheduled for us for April 27th in Springfield. We are pleased to have been able to come to an agreement whereby the Chancellor guaranteed us student representation of our choosing at upcoming meetings with the North Central Association, and assured sit-in participants that no disciplinary action would be taken against them. In addition, we have come to an agreement with Trustee Carroll whereby she has agreed to place a resolution against "Chief Illiniwek" on the agenda of the Board's June meeting in Chicago!!!
In exchange for these guaranteed meetings, amnesty for sit-in participants, and a commitment by Carroll to put a resolution on agenda of the June meeting, we agreed to leave Swanlund Administration Building. The announcement was made at a joint press conference with Chancellor Cantor and the signed statement. For the actual text of the statement, you can visit:
http://www.uiuc.edu/resources/announcement3.html
We will be using the meetings we have won with the Black and Latino/a Caucuses and with the NCA to move the Board of Trustees to the inevitable next step, the elimination of "Chief Illiniwek," in name, dance, and logo, and mobilizing the coalition to ensure passage of a resolution to eliminate "Chief Illiniwek" at the June Board in Chicago.
Please take a moment to contact Board Chair Lawrence Eppley at (312) 372-1121 or email him via the Trustees' secretary at mthompsn (at) uillinois.edu (please copy all emails to prc (at) prairienet.org) and tell him that you were outraged by his refusal to communicate with students and faculty sitting-in, and that he must take immediate action to eliminate "Chief Illiniwek."
Recent media on the sit-in included...
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=1784140
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/chief16.html
http://www.nbc5.com/sports/3012996/detail.html
http://www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=15823
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_107130019.html
http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=12154
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/041604_ap_ns_chiefill.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3986910,00.html
and stories ran in almost every major city in the country (including, Chicago, Miami, Seattle, New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta) and also in the UK's Guardian.
As we sat in at Swanlund Administration Building for over 32 hours, we received an enormous outpouring of support from the campus, community, and nation as a whole. Thank you so much to all of you who came by, brought food, helped run errands, made calls, donated money, and otherwise gave very generously of yourself in support of the sit-in! We would not have made the progress that we made without YOU!!
Sincerely, The Swanlund sit-in crew |
See also:
http://www.prairienet.org/prc/
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Re: PRC Statement on Swanlund Occupation |
by Jack Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: -6
18 Apr 2004
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PRC,
You wrote:Despite repeated attempts to establish contact, Board Chairman Lawrence Eppley never once picked up the phone to speak with us or bothered to contact us about the conditions under which we would agree to leave the building.
Perhaps he does not negotiate with terrorists. A policy that should have been followed by the Cantor the deposed leader of the U of I.
The fact that you were not charged with a crime for your deeds was perhaps the greatest crime of all.
Imagine if a group of "Pro Life Protesters" decided to take over Planned Parenthood? They would be charged with RICO violations.
Long Live The Chief!!! |
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Re: PRC Statement on Swanlund Occupation |
by chuck
chuck (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: -6
18 Apr 2004
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I am going to be calling Eppley to tell him how furious I am that all those people aren't in a jail cell where they belong. Nice work though...convincing the troll that was already on your side not to punish you. If Cantor were leaving tomorrow it wouldn't be soon enough.
When does the sit in at Ron Turner's office start? He offends me quite a bit. |
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Re: PRC Statement on Swanlund Occupation |
by ijustkrushalot
uiuc.edu (unverified) |
Current rating: -3
19 Apr 2004
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it is a shame that you had to resort to these tactics in order to get your way.
i hope that next year we will not have a chancellor who so openly allows such acts to go unpunished |
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Re: PRC Statement on Swanlund Occupation |
by Jack Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: -6
19 Apr 2004
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Dear PRC,
Can you say "Back Lash". Way to empower the oposition. That is just what we needed. BTW, did that poor old lady get home yet? Great picture in the paper.
Jack |
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Re: PRC Statement on Swanlund Occupation |
by Jack Ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: -3
20 Apr 2004
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Dear PRC,
Did you happen to see the editorial in the News Gazette this evening? Have you listened to the morning talk shows?
On behalf of someone who feels that the Chief displays nothing but honor and heroism on behalf of all Native Americans, I can only thank you each for your time and dedication to your cause.
Your, law breaking stunt, has done more to show who you really are than all of the articles I could have ever written. Hidden or not.
Your Faithful Adversary,
Jack |
